Hayden Panettiere is best known for starring in NBC's ensemble drama series "Heroes" as Claire Bennet, a high school cheerleader in Odessa, Texas, who learns through trial-and-error that her flesh is indestructible. Panettiere was also recently seen in the Lifetime Original Movie, "The Amanda Knox Story." Most recently, she lent her voice to the character Kate in the 3D animated film "Alpha and Omega" for Lionsgate.

brightest stars, Hayden Panetierre has amassed a long list of credits at a young age. She starred in the independent film "The Architect" opposite Anthony LaPaglia and Isabella Rosselini which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, and "Mr. Gibb" for Kevin Spacey's company, Triggerstreet. Panettiere co-stars in the romantic dramedy "Shanghai Kiss," as well as "Bring it On: All or Nothing," the sequel to Universal's box office hit.

Training rigorously and executing her own stunts, Panettiere then dazzled audiences in her role as a competitive ice skater in "Ice Princess" and recorded "I Fly" for the film's soundtrack. Her spitfire characters in both "Joe Somebody" as Tim Allen's daughter and "Remember the Titans" with Denzel Washington helped to establish her as a unique talent. Her other film credits include "Raising Helen," directed by Garry Marshall; "Message In a Bottle" with Kevin Costner; "Object of My Affection" with Jennifer Aniston; and "The Affair of the Necklace" with Hilary Swank.

Panettiere starred in the Lifetime original movie "Lies My Mother Told Me" opposite Joely Richardson and in The Disney Channel's acclaimed "Tiger Cruise," based on the true events of September 11th. Panettiere's HBO film, "Normal," opposite Jessica Lange and Tom Wilkinson and directed by Jane Anderson, premiered at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival.

Panettiere's voice is as recognizable as her face. She embodied the challenging leading role as a jockey in "Racing Stripes," opposite the voices of Dustin Hoffman and Whoopi Goldberg. She also starred in Disney's animated features "A Bug's Life" as Princess Dot and "Dinosaurs" as Suri. Her work for "A Bug's Life Read-A-Long" garnered her a Grammy nomination for Best Spoken Word Album, as well as a nomination for The Hollywood Reporter's Young Star Award for Best Young Voiceover Talent. She also has provided a voice on the hit animated series "American Dad!"

Adding to her accomplishments, Panettiere was named the new face of Neutrogena. She received Movieline's Hollywood Life Magazine's Young Hollywood Exciting New Face/ Female Award for 2005. She received the 2008 and 2009 Teen Choice Awards for Choice Actress: Action/Adventure, as well as the 2009 Teen Choice Award for Choice Celebrity Activist. Panettiere also received the Breakout Actress Award in 2007 at the Capri Hollywood Film Festival and the award for Favorite Clipped Dramatic Artist for the 2007 television season at the 1st Annual Wave Award.

Panettiere is campaign spokesperson for the Whaleman Foundation, an oceanic research, conservation, and production organization dedicated to preserving and protecting dolphins, whales, and their ocean habitat. Since serving as spokesperson, she has traveled to Washington, DC to meet with Congressmen, was invited to the International Whaling Conference in Portugal and was featured in The Cove, a 2010 Oscar-winning documentary film exposing the slaughter of dolphins in Japan. Panettieres involvement in animal welfare also led to her being the recipient of the Genesis Wyler Award from The Humane Society of the United States in 2007.